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Future of Democracy

Our Agenda

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While democracy’s core values are widely popular, many liberal-democratic systems find themselves under immense pressure: Democratic processes are being misused to enforce autocratic political regimes in many of Germany´s partner countries, simultaneously explicitly populist movements have been gaining vast momentum all overEurope. Additionally, basic trust into democratic institutions and their representatives seems to be crumbling in many places.

Within the framework of our democratic governmental system, political parties, nongovernmental organisations, as well as societal initiatives will play a central mediating role between the state and the public in the future. For political parties to stay attractive and be able to continuously shape the political system, they have to adjust to changing framework conditions and find new ways of codetermination for their followers. Furthermore, new concepts are necessary to guarantee participation of all members and followers in the political process. Besides these different types of societal engagement, changes in institutional arrangements also play a central role. Strengthening parliaments, ministries and administrations as a representative democracy’s core institutions, as well as discussing their alterability, will be crucial. Only in this manner can diverse societal interests be permanently and fairly balanced and populism countered.